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African ecological restoration initiative brings together Sahel countries, international resources, and techniques adapted to dry climate in an attempt to recover degraded lands and reduce the impacts of desertification on rural communities.
The Great Green Wall is an ongoing environmental restoration initiative in the Sahel belt, a semi-arid region located south of the Sahara Desert.
Created by the African Union in 2007, the project aims to recover degraded areas, strengthen rural communities, and reduce the effects of desertification in a zone that stretches from Senegal, on the Atlantic, to Djibouti, in the Horn of Africa.
Although it became known for the image of a tree barrier, the initiative has come to encompass broader actions of soil recovery, water management, sustainable agriculture, and income generation.
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According to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification, the UNCCD, the goal is to restore degraded lands and make rural communities more resilient to the effects of climate change.
The official structure of the Pan-African Agency of the Great Green Wall brings together 11 countries: Burkina Faso, Chad, Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, and Sudan.
Over the years, associated programs have also come to involve other African countries and international partners, which explains the variation in numbers released by different organizations about the scope of the initiative.
Great Green Wall in the Sahel
The initial proposal envisioned the formation of a green belt about 8,000 kilometers long, crossing the African continent from west to east.
The goal was to contain land degradation on the southern edge of the Sahara, in a region marked by frequent droughts, pressure on natural resources, and strong dependence on agriculture and pastoralism.
With the advancement of studies on soil, climate, and ecological restoration, the project has ceased to be treated merely as a linear tree planting.
Today, according to UN-linked organizations, the Great Green Wall functions as a set of restored landscapes, adapted to the conditions of each territory and the needs of local communities.
In practice, the actions combine native trees, drought-resistant shrubs, grazing areas, agroforestry systems, spring recovery, and soil water retention techniques.
Species such as Senegal acacia and Faidherbia albida are used in different projects due to their adaptation to dry climates and their usefulness in soil fertility, shading, animal feed, and the production of inputs such as gum arabic.
The official goal is to restore 100 million hectares of degraded land by 2030.
The initiative also aims to sequester 250 million tons of carbon and create 10 million green jobs in rural areas.
The European Union also reports that programs linked to the project seek to improve food security and expand farmers’ access to more climate-adapted technologies.
Desertification and Climate in the Sahel
The Sahel separates the Sahara Desert from the African savannas and encompasses areas with irregular rainfall, long periods of drought, and a large number of families dependent on rural production.
When the soil loses vegetation cover, rainwater infiltrates with more difficulty, erosion increases, and the capacity to sustain crops and livestock decreases.
Degradation is not linked to a single factor.
According to scientific studies on the region, natural rain cycles, temperature increase, intensive land use, deforestation, and demographic pressure contribute to altering the landscape.
Research on the Sahara indicates that the desert has grown by about 10% since 1920, with variations according to the season and climatic conditions.
On the southern edge of the Sahara, these changes directly affect the Sahel.
International organizations point out that the region records a temperature increase above the global average, which tends to exacerbate droughts, reduce water availability, and make rural production more unstable.
The World Bank estimates that climate change could lead up to 216 million people to move internally by 2050 if adaptation measures and emission reductions are not adopted.
Within this scenario, Sub-Saharan Africa appears among the most vulnerable regions, with a projection of up to 86 million internally displaced people due to climate factors.
Environmental Restoration in Africa
The most cited consolidated report by UN agencies states that about 18 million to nearly 20 million hectares had been put into the restoration process between 2007 and 2018, depending on the criteria adopted.
The same survey pointed out that only 4% of the originally demarcated area for the Great Green Wall had been restored during that period.
The difference between the goals and the results disclosed shows that the project’s progress does not occur as a continuous line of vegetation seen from above.
Instead, the actions appear in separate areas, rural properties, communities, watersheds, and reforestation zones, according to the conditions of financing, security, governance, and local participation.
To meet the goal of 100 million hectares by 2030, participating countries would need to restore, on average, 8.2 million hectares per year.
The UNCCD estimates that at least US$ 33 billion would be needed to achieve the objectives set for the initiative by the end of the decade.
Financing of the Great Green Wall
The Great Green Wall received new international funding in January 2021, during the One Planet Summit, when leaders and institutions announced the Great Green Wall Accelerator.
On that occasion, US$ 14.3 billion in new resources were pledged for projects related to restoration, climate adaptation, and rural development.
According to the UNCCD, multilateral and bilateral organizations had already mobilized more than US$ 19 billion for the initiative in recent years.
The European Union also reports support for the project through national and regional programs linked to the Global Gateway, the bloc’s external investment strategy.
Despite the funding announcements, international reports point to difficulties in coordination, monitoring, and local execution.
Part of the resources needs to pass through different administrative levels before reaching the communities responsible for planting, soil management, and maintaining the restored areas.
Political instability in the Sahel also interferes with the progress of the programs.
Armed conflicts, coups, population displacements, and restrictions on the activities of international organizations hinder the continuity of nurseries, the monitoring of seedlings, and the application of management techniques over several years.
In the field, the survival of plants depends on factors such as the appropriate choice of species, water availability, protection against excessive grazing, and the participation of local communities.
In ecological restoration, planting represents only one stage; without continuous maintenance and management, the recovered areas may degrade again.
Challenges to Contain the Desert’s Advance
The Great Green Wall became known as an attempt to contain the desert’s advance, but the technical approach adopted has changed over the years.
According to restoration specialists and environmental organizations, the desert does not advance as a single, regular front.
Its edges vary according to the rainfall regime, temperature, land use, and human pressure on the vegetation.
Therefore, the initiative has come to be described as a network of restored areas, rather than a continuous wall of trees.
This model includes assisted natural regeneration, fencing of degraded areas, pasture recovery, water resource management, use of local species, and support for rural productive activities.
Studies coordinated by the FAO indicate that investments in restoration in the Great Green Wall region can yield positive economic returns, although results vary according to the country, the technique used, the monitoring time, and the degree of community participation.
In several areas, the social effect is linked to income generation, food security, and the reduction of vulnerability of rural families.
The initiative remains associated with a large-scale environmental goal, but its results depend on factors beyond the number of trees planted.
Among the indicators considered by international organizations are soil fertility recovery, water retention, species survival, agricultural production, and the stability of communities living in these areas.
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